Gaylussacia baccata
species of plant
Gaylussacia baccata, the black huckleberry, is a common huckleberry found throughout a wide area of eastern North America.
Description
Gaylussacia baccata is a shrub up to 150 cm (5 feet) tall, forming extensive colonies. Flowers are in dangling groups of 3–7, orange or red, bell-shaped. The berries are dark blue, almost black, rarely white.
Similar species
The plant closely resembles the native blueberry plants (Vaccinium species) with which it grows in the same habitats, though it is distinct by the numerous resin dots on the undersides of the leaves which glitter in light.
Distribution
The plant is native to Eastern Canada and the Great Lakes region, the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, and the Appalachian Mountains, the Ohio/Mississippi/Tennessee Valley, and Southeastern United States. The range extends from Newfoundland west to Manitoba and Minnesota, south as far as Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia.
Ecology
The shrub is considered fire-resistant due to surviving rhizomes quickly sending out new shoots following fires.
It is a larval host to the brown elfin, Gordian sphinx, Henry's elfin, and huckleberry sphinx.
Uses
The berries are sweet, and are eaten raw, jellied, or baked into foods such as pancakes, muffins.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gaylussacia baccata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.